Vatican City, April 17, 2024 – Pope Francis has appointed a new leader for the Catholic Church in South Africa and Lesotho. Monsignor Henryk Mieczysław Jagodziński, a Polish diplomat with extensive experience, will serve as the Holy See’s Apostolic Nuncio to the two southern African nations.
The announcement, made public yesterday by the Holy See Press Office, fills a vacancy that’s existed since February 2023. Archbishop Peter Brian Wells, the previous Nuncio, departed for a new assignment in Thailand and Cambodia.
Monsignor Jagodziński is no stranger to the world of diplomacy. Since 2020, he has served as Apostolic Nuncio to Ghana, and before that, he held postings in Belarus, Croatia, India, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The multilingual priest, fluent in English, Polish, Croatian, French, Italian, Russian, and Spanish, brings a wealth of international experience to his new role.
Born in Małogoszcz, Poland in 1969, Monsignor Jagodziński was ordained a priest in 1995. He holds a degree in Canon Law and entered the Holy See’s diplomatic service in 2001. South Africa and Lesotho’s Catholic communities can expect a seasoned leader in Monsignor Jagodziński, who will represent Pope Francis in the region.